“My Soul Exalts the Lord”
Luke 1:46-56
July 28, 2024
After a second deployment in Iraq, Stacy Bare returned home but he wasn’t doing well: he was drinking too much, thinking suicidal thoughts, and struggling to think about the future and manage life. “What am I doing with my life? What does it mean to be at home, a veteran, anyway?”
To try to distract himself and do something constructive he went on a hike with his brother. But they were arguing. The trail led to a ladder. “We climbed up, still shouting at one another,” recalls Bare. “Then we looked up and wham!” Above them towered the Druid Arch — a sunset-colored outcrop in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. The men’s jaws dropped. Then they laughed and hugged. “What were we even arguing about?” Bare recalls thinking.
Seeing something magnificent and transcendent redirects our minds and hearts and helps put all things in perspective. And seeing something magnificent also leads us to worship and praise. And that is exactly what Mary did when she met with Elizabeth after Gabriel had announced the conception of Christ, the Messiah, in her womb. Though she did not have a context for a virgin to be pregnant, she believed. And as she believed and as her understanding of the significance of God’s blessing on her and the role He had given her grew, she also worshipped.
When we talk about biblical worship, we mean a response of submission and delight in God; that delight has two expressions —
- ascribing honor and adoration to Him, and
- living honorably for Him (it’s both word and deed — something we say and something we do).
As you think about Mary, she had already expressed the desire to live for God as an act of worship (Lk. 1:38) — and then she acted by going to Judah to visit Elizabeth as a reflection of her faith and trust. In Luke 1:46-56, she also expresses in words her submission and especially her delight in God. The background to this song gives us a motive for worship; the words of this song give us the content of worship.
Worship God in word and deed.
Mary’s song guides us to worship by providing four attributes of God-honoring worship —
- A Heart Prepared for Worship (vv. 46-48)
- A Contemplation of God’s Infinite Character (vv. 49-50)
- An Anticipation of God’s Gracious Reversals (vv. 51-53)
- A Reflection on God’s Fulfilled Promise (vv. 54-55)
Download the rest of this sermon on Luke 1:46-56.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.
Words of Grace 